Opportunities, Challenges and Safeguard Measures for Sustainable Development of Fumian District, Yulin City

Wei HUANG, Lijin CAI, Weiyou SHI, Zhaoliang LIU, Daobo WANG

Institute of Rural Revitalization, Yulin Normal University, Yulin 537000 China

Abstract This paper first analyzes the main opportunities for sustainable development of Fumian District, Yulin City, and then discusses the challenges faced by Fumian District in its sustainable development. Finally, it proposes safeguard measures for sustainable development of Fumian District: (i) strengthening leadership and implementing responsibilities; (ii) enhancing cooperation and gathering forces; (iii) reinforcing supervision and ensuring implementation; (iv) increasing input and integrating resources; (v) strengthening publicity and creating an atmosphere.

Key words Fumian District of Yulin City, Sustainable development, Opportunities and challenges, Safeguard measures

1 Introduction

As an important passage and key node of the ancient Maritime Silk Road, Yulin City is an important city in Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone and the Pearl River-Xijiang Economic Belt. Yulin City takes full advantage of its good economic and social sustainable development capabilities and the scientific and technological support conditions for promoting sustainable development. With the new mission of "Three Positions" assigned by General Secretary Jin Ping in mind, it is accelerating the construction of "two cities and one center", a regional metropolis, a commercial center of Beibu Gulf city cluster and a national non-public economic development model city. Located at the junction of the Great Southwest Economic Circle, the Pan-Pearl River Delta Economic Circle, the ASEAN Free Trade Area and the Pan-Beibu Gulf Economic Zone, Fumian District has convenient transportation. Fumian District should accelerate the economic transformation from agricultural to urban, promote the development of the same city as Yulin’s downtown, and builds "three districts and one hub" (Yulin regional urban core area, modern characteristic service industry cluster area, green ecological modern rural new area, Yulin City integrated transportation hub). Therefore, the sustainable development of Fumian District of Yulin City is to practice the five development concepts of "innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing", and is the only way to realize sustainable use of landscape, economic prosperity and development, social harmony and stability, as well as people’s health and well-being.

2 Main opportunities for sustainable development of Fumian District

In recent years, many policy dividends have been constantly provided, various constructions have been advanced in depth, the infrastructure of Fumian District has been continuously improved, service capabilities have been continuously improved, and the ecological environment has been continuously optimized. All of these have laid a solid foundation for the establishment of a sustainable development experimental zone in Fumian District. The penetration of "five development concepts" (innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing) into people’s heart, the advancing of the "Belt and Road" construction, the full implementation of the "four major strategies" in Guangxi, and the transportation and industrial development strategies of Fumian have ushered in great development opportunities for Fumian District[1-4].

2.1 Opportunities brought by "five development concepts"

Both the party and the country attach great importance to sustainable development. The fundamental ultimate point and goal of the "five development concepts" is to achieve sustainable development. With the establishment of the five development concepts, especially the green development concept, the country will provide greater policy support in strategic emerging industries, tourism and modern service industries, new urbanization construction, ecological civilization construction, and integrated management of the western ecological zone. These will provide new forces for sustainable development of Fumian District.

2.2 Opportunities brought by the construction of the "Belt and Road"Fumian District actively integrates into comprehensively deepening reforms, fully integrates into the "dual-core" driving strategy, fully implements the opening strategy of "adjacent to the east, close to the south, and access to rivers and seas", and actively integrates into the country’s construction of the "Belt and Road". It can take full use of its location advantages, natural resources advantages, and tourism resources advantages, make extensive contacts with countries along the "Belt and Road", create more opportunities for cooperation, and provide new space for the sustainable development of Fumian District.

2.3 Opportunities brought by the implementation of the "four major strategies"Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has been implemented the four major strategies of "innovation-driven, open-driven, dual-core driven, and green development", making effort to create a "clean political ecology, a beautiful natural ecology, and a united and harmonious social ecology", comprehensively promote the three major battles of infrastructure construction, industrial transformation and upgrading, and poverty alleviation. These bring new concepts and policies for the sustainable development of Fumian District in the new era.

2.4 Opportunities brought by transportation advantages

The Thirteenth Five-Year Plan for Guangxi Railway Construction has been further optimized. Many highspeed railways such as Nanning to Shenzhen, Zhangjiajie to Haikou, Hezhou to Beihai, and Guigang to Yulin, passes through Yulin City. In addition, the completion of the comprehensive transportation hub of Yulin Civil Airport will speed up the process of Fumian’s opening to the outside world. New business formats such as airport industry and modern logistics will emerge rapidly and will provide precious opportunities for Fumian City to become the core area of Yulin City and to build a modern characteristic service industry cluster.

2.5 Opportunities brought by industry development strategy

Three industrial clusters, namely, Yulin (Fumian) Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Industrial Park, Yulin City’s Prefabricated Buildings and Modern Green Building Materials Industrial Base, Yulin (Fumian) Ecological Textile and Garment Industrial Park, continue to expand. Industrial advantages and agglomeration effects continue to increase, and the ability and advantages to undertake industrial transfers have become more prominent. These bring precious opportunities for Fumian District to grasp the pulse of the times, keep pace with the times, practice the five development concepts of “innovation, coordination, green, openness, and sharing”, and create valuable resources for the establishment of the sustainable development experimental zone in accordance with the relevant requirements of the Guangxi sustainable development experimental zone

3 Challenges faced by Fumian District in its sustainable development

With the increasing demand for social and economic development, Fumian District is facing many severe challenges in the sustainable use of resources[5-6].

3.1 Increased pressure on the development of industrial enterprisesIn Fumian District, the foundation for the stabilization and recovery of the industrial economy is still not solid. It lacks advanced technology and independent brands. These have increased the pressure of industrial restructuring and transformation and upgrading. Besides, industrial enterprises lack professional and technical personnel, the scale of the industry is small, the degree of industrial agglomeration is low, the industrial cluster effect has not yet formed, and the anti-risk and overall competitiveness is not strong. The severe shortage of funds restricts the production expansion of enterprises, and the shortage of labor has led to a generally low operating rate of enterprises.

3.2 Innovation ability to be improvedThe innovation-driven ability with technological innovation as the core is weak, especially the lack of high-level technological leaders and teams, and enterprises have not yet truly become the main body of technological innovation. The investment is insufficient in innovation, the conversion rate of scientific and technological achievements is low, innovation systems and mechanisms are to be broken through, and policy service systems need to be improved. In order to achieve economic and social transformation, upgrading and development under the new normal and fierce competition, Fumian District must promote the innovation-driven capabilities of the entire society as soon as possible.

3.3 Difficult to realize sustainable development due to insufficient land use indicators for major projectsThere is no sufficient indicator for new construction land. Especially, the rapid development of the "three major parks" have led to serious shortages of new construction land indicators for Fumian District. The expansion of the park outside the park is restricted by capital farmland, and the land use planning that needs to be adjusted becomes more difficult.

3.4 Small modern service industry and low overall development levelService industry enterprises are mainly low-end service industries such as logistics and leasing, while high-end service industries such as finance, information, culture and entertainment, outsourcing services, innovation and creativity are still in blank. In addition, there are few service industry enterprises above designated size and the level of industry development is low, so the driving force for economic growth is weak.

4 Safeguard measures for sustainable development of Fumian District

It is necessary to take the implementation of industrial transformation and upgrading as the top priority of comprehensively deepening reforms, strengthen the overall planning and coordination, vigorously promote implementation, and promote the implementation of various reform measures.

4.1 Strengthening leadership and implementing responsibilitiesFumian District should strictly implement the system of party and government chief responsible comrades as the first responsible person in the regional industrial transformation and upgrading pilot, make conscientious planning, accelerate the promotion, and seek practical results. In addition, it is recommended to adhere to the regular reporting system for industrial transformation and upgrading and the deepening reform committee meeting to listen to the reporting system on the implementation of industrial transformation and upgrading, establish and improve the reform promotion and implementation force mechanism, and guarantee that the work tasks are promoted at a high level and implemented in place.

4.2 Enhancing cooperation and gathering forcesFumian District should strengthen its efforts in tackling tough issues in accordance with the work functions of the department, unswervingly push forward industrial transformation and upgrading, and take the task force as a key force to strengthen the organization, implementation, overall coordination of industrial transformation and upgrading in this field, and promptly study and judge to solve the pain points, difficulties and blockages in the process of industrial transformation and upgrading. In addition, Fumian District should make bold exploration and innovation in accordance with actual conditions, continue to refine and promote good practices, practical measures, and effective policies, and actively strive for industrial upgrading experience in various regions.

4.3 Reinforcing supervision and ensuring implementation

Fumian District should supervise the implementation of work in a regular or irregular manner. For those with the implementation not in place or weak advancement, it is required to criticize, hold accountable seriously, and rectify within a time limit. Fumian District should study specific measures based on actual conditions, strengthen supervision and inspection, and strictly implement them at various levels.

4.4 Increasing input and integrating resourcesFumian District should integrate policy finance, development finance, commercial finance, cooperative finance and other resources to establish a sound multi-subject, multi-channel, and multi-form investment and financing mechanism. Besides, it is necessary to establish a green financial system with a reasonable division of labor and complement each other, focusing on providing financial support for ecological protection construction and ecological industry development. In addition, Fumian District should set up a green development fund in accordance with the law to attract social capital to participate in the construction of major sustainable development projects, so as to expand diversified financing channels and methods to raise funds for sustainable development.

4.5 Strengthening publicity and creating an atmosphere

Fumian District should implement proper propaganda and public opinion guidance. In accordance with the work requirements, Fumian District should make overall panning and organization, make full use of various media and communication methods, extensively promote and guide and carry out all-round publicity reports. For example, it is recommended to publish and report a batch of work experience, work highlights, new ideas, new measures, and new achievement and promote successful industrial transformation and upgrading cases throughout the region. Also, it is recommended to incorporate sustainable development knowledge into relevant courses of basic education. Finally, it is recommended to encourage the public to actively participate in ecological protection actions, support enterprises to carry out energy-saving and consumption-reducing clean production, and create a social atmosphere in which the public participates widely and everyone has responsibility for sustainable development.